Team Victory to the Rescue!
by Lavender Turtle
Summary: Another human is called upon to save the Pokémon World from another disaster. However, things take a turn for the worse, and they're knocked to the other corner of the land, far from their objective. Meanwhile, a group of locals and aspiring explorers encounter an amnesiac Snivy, and their quest for victory begins. PMD Universe fic
1. Welcome!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokémon Franchise. It belongs to its respective owners.

* * *

Chapter 1: Welcome!

A pair of eyes scanned the never-ending sea of pastel colors surrounding them, wide with wonder. Feelings like excitement and joy seemed to radiate from all around, with the occasional jumps of pride and determination.

It was as if the wispy existence in the Dream Realm had stepped knee-deep in an ocean of an adventurer's ideals, never mind how incredibly cheesy it sounded. As it looked around, the being absently wondered how long it had been there—it felt like months, but in reality, it must've just fell asleep an hour ago.

The being tried to move around and see what else the endless stretch of pink, yellow, and blue had to offer, but when its body tilted forward, it barely budged an inch.

It was like swimming in a pool of tar, except the being didn't feel like thrashing in panic.

Slightly huffy, the being took to standing—or floating—there, glancing around the shifting colors. If it focused on them, it could feel a different emotion with every change in shade: red was determination and passion, orange was joy, yellow was excitement, green was serenity, blue was something like fear or sorrow (which, to be honest, shocked the being a little), pink was akin to companionship, and purple was confidence.

With a blink, the being figured that it really _was_ standing in a thick pool of ideals.

After staring at the aurora for a while more, it grew bored. Why was it there anyway? If it's dreaming, then it should be somewhere else at this point, right?

However, after these thoughts processed, the being froze. Faint murmurs suddenly ebbed out of the realm, and the human existence wracked its recent memory, wondering if they were already there. It suppressed a frown. If this was a dream, was it going insane?

Those thoughts were brushed aside to be replaced with a bit of shock and fear when the voices hastily molded into one clear, solid thought.

**Welcome to the Pokémon World!**

…What?

**In case you were wondering, this place is a realm of imagination, formed by every living creature within both the Human and Pokémon Worlds. But before we go any further, what is your name?**

The voice was very casual, the human thought. Also, Pokémon World? The human's world was filled to the brim with humans and Pokémon alike, so what was it implying?

_Ah, what the heck._ Deciding to humor this world that its mind supplied, the human made to shout its name, but froze in shock when it found that it had no voice.

**Nice to meet you! **The voice called out cheerfully, despite the human not having said anything. **Now, you'll be asked a series of questions. Remember: be truthful when answering them!**

…Sure, the human was probably risking hyperventilation in real life, but honestly; did it have a choice?

Deciding that it wasn't going to take the risky path at this point, the human nodded. At this, the voice snapped into action.

**A human hand extends out of a toilet! What do you do?**

The human would've laughed out if it had the voice to. What a weird question to start off. Actually, something like that happened...that one time. The human couldn't really remember, but it answered with a grin nonetheless:

_Close the lid without a word._

The voice continued, **Your friend is being bullied! What do you do?****  
**

The being's eyebrows furrowed and its eyes narrowed a fraction. _Face up to the bully, of course!_

With something like pride lightly tinting the voice, it moved on, **You come across a treasure chest! What do you do?****  
**

_Walk up and open it._ You never know if it's treasure or not unless you crack it open, right?

**Have you ever made a pitfall trap?**

_Can't say I have, _the human replied, invested in the questionnaire.

**Can you sincerely thank someone when you feel grateful?**

The voice suddenly seemed serious, contrasting greatly from the near-jolly tone it had. Aside from that, the human thought, _Yeah, I can._

It seemed to be on the final question: **Do you want to go on the adventure of a lifetime?**

To be perfectly honest, the human felt like it was leading a mundane life. It always liked things like fairy tales where the hero gets to go on an adventure and save the girl, or movies where a bunch of superheroes team up and take down the huge, looming force of evil.

The human's eyes widened and shined as its heart sped up and its hands clenched at its sides. _Sure!_

With its response, the air seemed to pick up into a harsh wind, and the human raised its arms to cover its face. As soon as it started, the winds died down, letting the human put its arms down and scrunch its face in confusion. There was a knotted ribbon about the size of the human's palm right in front of them, but what was it doing there?

**Now, one last thing: Place your index finger on the ribbon.**

Tentatively, the human reached out and pressed the tip of its pointer finger onto the knot of the ribbon.

**Steady your hand and stay calm. Your aura is being evaluated.**

…Nope, not an eerie prospect at all. Nonetheless, the human complied, taking care to steady its breathing and slow down its racing pulse. Curiously, the ribbon started to pulse in tandem with the human's heartbeat, letting out a soft glow.

**Nice and steady… Inhale… and exhale.**

**…Done! Your aura has been evaluated. Please lift your hand from the ribbon.**

That last sentence seemed to have a robotic quality, something that didn't even seem possible until now, but the human didn't dwell too much on it, removing its hand from the silky material.

The voice announced:

**Hmm…Your aura seems to be…**

The ribbon flashed and disappeared while the aurora bled into a single, vibrant color.

**…A deep green!**

**You seem to be…the calm type.**

**You like to lay back and not get directly involved with anything. You're the level-headed one of your group, and you don't rush into things, preferring to take a step back and ponder the situation.**

**However, there are some things that you aren't swayed by. You stand up for others, and you care deeply about your friends. Sometimes you forget about the repercussions, but you tell yourself it'll be just fine.**

**So, a calm, stubborn type like you…**

**...Would be a Snivy!**

Ah, to be honest, Snivy was one of the human's favorite Pokémon. It hoped to get one when it was allowed to go on a Pokemon journey a few years ago, but—

_Hold on, run that by me again…_

The voice wasn't so compliant, and instead of an answer, the human's consciousness was bombarded by a wave of pain, and it gasped.

_"Aaah!"_

It didn't take much more before the new hero fainted.


	2. Mountainside Cave

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Pokémon belongs to its respective owners.

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Chapter 2: Mountainside Cave

Looking up at the snowy peak of a mountain from the edge of a cool forest would calm anyone and somewhat put them in a state of peace, wouldn't it? In fact, it's most of the reason why Pokémon from the nearby towns would come over and have a picnic just outside of the forest dungeon's entrance.

The colorful, natural scenery coupled with the continuous cool breeze was something that the local folks were glad to have such easy access to.

Unfortunately, the Oshawott pacing outside of the cave that opened up at the base of the mountain either didn't think so or didn't bother to pause and see for himself, as he had a worried expression plastered onto his face and was chewing on the corner of his scalchop.

_Where is he?_ the Water-type thought, momentarily pausing in his pacing to look around the border of trees and shrubs and continuing when he didn't find anything. _He was supposed to be here ages ago!_

Suddenly, the bushes at the end of the clearing rustled, and Oshawott jumped. When nothing emerged, the Pokémon tentatively put on a brave face and replaced his scalchop, bracing himself into a fighting position and ready to Tackle whatever came out of that bush.

The leaves trembled again, and a flash of red and black jumped out. With a somewhat weak cry, Oshawott shut his eyes and charged, barely hitting the figure's shoulder. The newcomer toppled over, grunting in shock while Oshawott crashed into a tree, unable to slow himself down after he made contact.

A few moments later, the red and black Pokémon got up, inspecting the small wound on its shoulder. It sighed and looked over at the winded Water Pokémon, face contorting into frustration. The newcomer growled, "Oshawott!"

At his friend's voice, Oshawott snapped out of his daze and quickly scrambled out of the bush that he crashed into. The otter Pokémon grinned obliviously once he spotted Tepig. "Oh, hey Tepig! When did you—" He was cut off with a Tackle to the stomach, and frankly, it was more powerful than the move that the Oshawott himself dished out.

"Ugh..." The Water-type collapsed to the ground, dazed once more. Grumbling, Tepig dug out an Oran Berry from the tiny Treasure Bag that he brought, splitting it in two. He ate one half, healing his scraped shoulder, and shoved the other half in Oshawott's mouth. Within the minute, the otter was up and running.

"Ah...I guess I kinda deserved that..." Oshawott smiled apologetically as he turned to the Fire Pig Pokémon, the latter of which was giving the Water-type a withering look. Within an instant, the smile turned into a frown. "Anyway, where have you _been_? I've been waiting for hours, and we're going to be late at this pace!"

The Fire-type scoffed, and he muttered, "It doesn't matter where I've been, but I do know that you're exaggerating and super anxious," the pig Pokémon dodged the Oshawott's question and proceeded to gesture to the sky above the forest with his snout. "Look! The sun isn't even over the mountain yet!"

Oshawott opened his mouth, a retort forming on his tongue, but the Water-type relented with a sigh. "I-I see. Sorry Tepig, it's just…I mean, we have the chance to become apprentices under the Zoroark Guild! And I don't want to mess it up since both of us have been working for so long, and—"

"I get it, I get it!" Tepig interrupted. If he didn't stop the otter Pokémon, it would've meant a _lot_ of rambling, and while he didn't want to admit it, Oshawott was right: they didn't exactly have the entire day to cross the mountain and trek the plains before they were late for their initiation.

At his outburst, Oshawott bowed his head. "Ah, sorry…"

Tepig scoffed, but his expression was not as harsh. "Oh, never mind that. We have to go already, so pack as many recovery items as you can." At this, Oshawott snapped into action and ran to the ornate chest that sat in front of the dungeon entrance for explorers and started to shuffle through the small stock of items that the two prepared for their initiation. It was placed there since the forest started to become dangerous, so if you wanted to visit Enigma Town, you'd have to take the mountain dungeon, much to the chagrin of many Pokémon that wanted to cross the area.

"Should I get some bands, too?" The Water-type called once he filled about three-fourths of the bag with Oran Berries and Max Elixirs.

"Yeah," Tepig nodded as he scanned the map of the western country that he laid out on the ground. "Power Band for me, Special Band for you."

A few shoves through their belongings later, and Oshawott closed the Endless Chest, slinging the Treasure Bag's strap over his left shoulder and holding up two stat-boosting bands in his right hand. "Ready!" He walked over and offered the Power Band to Tepig while he tied the Special Band around his wrist. The Fire-type rolled up the map and put it in its compartment on the Treasure Bag, then he slipped the Power Band around his left shoulder.

"All right, let's go!" Tepig exclaimed, letting a few embers flare out of his nostrils.

* * *

While it was an unspoken agreement that Tepig would be the leader of their explorations as Oshawott was a bit too timid to take the reins, the Water-type found himself wondering whether he should've offered to lead this time.

He scanned the moss and the growing fungi on the walls with wariness, feeling a bit of déjà vu walking through this tunnel of the cave… "Tepig, are you sure we're going the right way?"

"Of course I'm sure!" The Fire-type replied hot-headedly, no pun intended. "The stairs are right over here, I'm sure of it!"

When they walked into the open area, there weren't any stairs in sight; only a Wonder Tile and a hostile Geodude at the other end of the room. Tepig didn't pay it any mind, and instead turned to the north corridor. "It's over here, actually."

Oshawott let out a sigh; they were going in circles—not that Tepig knew that, apparently.

It's been several minutes since they've entered the Mountainside Cave, and they've only reached the second floor. As they walked through the tunnels, the otter Pokémon shuddered; was that a breeze? If it was, Tepig didn't seem to notice, and the pair trekked on, following the same path over and over.

Luckily, they eventually got to the third floor of the cave, but it took one sudden whirlwind and a lot of subtle shoves by Oshawott the next time around to reach the stairs. Unfortunately, Tepig was so stubborn and oblivious that they were swept into yet another whirlwind and kicked out of the dungeon.

It continued like that for a while, with Tepig's horrible sense of direction and cast-iron pride getting them lost and losing their items from the winds. By their sixth try, they barely had enough supplies for another trip, and Oshawott's shoves became not-so-subtle to the point of him practically pushing Tepig to the stairs, much to the chagrin of the Fire-type who, miraculously, was still oblivious towards how bad his own navigating skills were.

Eventually, they got past the third floor thanks to the Water Pokémon's lost patience. However, on the fourth floor, things started to get a bit sour. Out of nowhere, a Zubat attacked the two. It was only one, so they didn't think much of it and took it out with a well-placed Ember attack. Though, when one turned into two, and two turned into ten, the low-leveled explorers found themselves severely outmatched. Unfortunately, they were still poorly rationed with Oshawott completely focused on making it to the stairs, and the ambush found the duo huddled against the cave floor, stung to the brink of fainting. Oshawott shuffled through the Treasure bag as discreetly as he could with wounds and a horde of Zubat flittering above him. Come on, there had to be an Oran Berry _somewhere!_

Looking over at his right, Tepig was close to collapse, wheezing out small embers. Alarm flashed in Oshawott's eyes; if one of them is knocked out, they both end up at the start of the dungeon. Panicked, the Water-type hastily scanned the floor, hoping that there was a healing item lying about that could help at least one of them._  
_

Well, while his treasure-finding luck wasn't exactly the best, he didn't have to worry about it. A brilliant flash of light illuminated the cave and sent all of the Zubat to the floor, paralyzed. Oshawott turned to find the source of their saving grace, and he saw a Pikachu and an Axew huddled over Tepig.

"Oh, new adventurers! I haven't seen either of you around before," the Pikachu remarked as he gave a Sitrus Berry to Tepig. "Are you headed to the rescue base in Enigma Town?"

Oshawott was about to reply when he choked up, coughing. The Pikachu seemed more sheepish than alarmed. "Oh, my apologies. I forgot that neither of you could speak—um," he turned to the Axew. "Give him a berry, Axew." The request was a little rushed, but Oshawott didn't dwell on it too long. Within an instant, the Dragon-type bounced over and fed the otter Pokémon a Sitrus Berry.

Oshawott jumped up and his eyes shone. Never before had he felt so reinvigorated! He turned to the Axew with a grin. "Thanks! That was great!"

The Dragon-type had an expression that was just as bright. "No problem! Glad I could help!"

Pikachu helped Tepig stand, focusing on the Fire-type as he said, "That was a close call for you two." Once Tepig was able to support himself, Pikachu turned to address Oshawott. "If you want, we could escort you to the cave exit."

"Are you two a rescue team?" Oshawott couldn't help but ask. He realized that he might've been a bit rude with the delivery of his statement and he bowed his head in embarrassment, but Pikachu just chuckled.

"No, we just live around here and help out explorers like you that might encounter trouble while going through the dungeon." Pikachu grew thoughtful. "Though, I won't lie; the prospect of exploration always intrigued me."

"Then why not join a guild?" Oshawott asked, feeling comfortable enough around the Electric-type to ask. "I mean, it would be the most logical thing to do, wouldn't it?" The Water-type added hastily. Pikachu didn't say anything at first, instead gesturing them to follow.

The four entered the room's west corridor, and Pikachu's voice echoed off of the walls, "I've thought about it, but there are things that I still have to do over here."

"Oh, I see." Oshawott replied. What else could he say?

Tepig, who had been silent until now, asked, "So, what was up with that Zubat horde? Does that happen often?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure about the reason behind it," Pikachu replied, "but the residents have been ganging up on passerby lately, and I'm not able to find out why. None of the horde Pokémon are willing to tell me, and it's getting a bit worrying." Oshawott and Tepig shared a glance, but didn't say a word.

They continued on and ascended the next flight of stairs without any questions while Oshawott chatted with Axew at the back of the group. He was a hyper character, the Water-type decided. He seemed to be all over the place, sometimes stopping in the middle of conversation to point out, say, a sleeping Pokémon in the middle of a room, and moving to another topic without resolving whatever they discussed previously. Not that Oshawott minded, but he wondered how other Pokémon aside from Pikachu got along with him.

"Oh, and did you know? There's this _huge_ village filled with Dragons that are just like me! I wanna go there someday, but no one in Enigma Town or the Meadow Village knows where it is, so I'm waiting here until I can find out—oh, look!" Axew paused in the middle of his ramblings and pointed ahead. "The exit!"

Following the direction that the claw was pointing, Oshawott's eyes squinted at the bright light at the end of the tunnel. Tepig was the first to react: "Oh, finally!" With a groan, he added, "My legs are _killing me._"

Axew let out a laugh at Tepig's behavior while Oshawott sighed in relief. It felt like forever since the two entered the dungeon, and as they climbed higher, Oshawott couldn't help but notice that the atmosphere started to feel colder, no matter how close to the ground they still were. The group started to pick up the pace, but Pikachu stopped in his tracks, causing the rest of the party to halt as well.

"Pikachu?" Oshawott blinked at the Electric Mouse's behavior. The addressed Pokémon didn't say anything, focused on looking around the walls of the cave with a strange expression.

"Ooh…" Axew breathed, eyes widening. "We ought to get out of here, huh?"

Pikachu nodded wordlessly and ran ahead, ears twitching. The tusk Pokémon followed suit, yelling, "Come on, you two! It isn't safe here!" over his shoulder. Oshawott and Tepig shot a worried glance at each other and broke out into run, trying to catch up with the other Pokémon.

Within the minute, the quartet emerged from the cave's exit and, without warning, found themselves descending a steep slope. Pikachu was running down and gaining momentum, not having lost his footing from the change in platform. Meanwhile, Axew, Oshawott, and Tepig were sliding down the side of the mountain, the Dragon-type squealing with glee while the other two yelped in shock.

Once he neared the base of the mountain, Pikachu spun his body, drawing spirals into the grass and exhausting his momentum. Once his paws touched the flat ground, he planted them firmly into the grass, preventing himself from skidding into the trees. The Dragon-type and the yet-to-be apprentices arrived in a less-skilled fashion, with the former jumping from the base of the mountain to land on his feet and the latter crashing gracelessly.

After recovering from the fall, Oshawott stood and shook his head, getting the loose dirt off of his head while simultaneously shaking away the dazed feeling. The Water-type sighed, relieved that everything was over, and he made his way over to Tepig, who was face-deep and trying to scramble out of the soil.

Once the Fire-type's head was extracted from the earth, the explorers sat against the mountain, taking the time to fully recover while Pikachu scanned them for wounds.

"What was that about?" Tepig grumbled while he looked through the remaining contents of the duo's Treasure Bag, making sure that they still had everything. One of the Oran Berries that they picked up in the fifth floor of the cave was missing, but other than that, they still had the map and the rest of the recovery items that they retrieved.

"I'm sorry for the short notice," Pikachu murmured as he backed away, having not found anything particularly serious. "I didn't know for sure how far the fog was able to reach, so when I sensed something dangerous, I didn't want to risk your safety."

"The fog…as in the dark cloud that some of the Pokémon far in the eastern country were reporting about?" Oshawott asked. At Pikachu's nod, the otter Pokémon grew confused. "But why would it be all the way over here?"

"I'm as confused as you are," Pikachu admitted. He turned his head to the sky. "All I know is that it doesn't originate from one area."

At this, the explorers looked up at the peak of the mountain, and their eyes widened. "…Oh," Tepig said in realization. The normally bright tip of the mountain was shrouded in an eerie dark cloud. If you squint, you could see multiple figures circling the summit, somewhat resembling birds.

"It might have relation to the hostile hordes of Zubat gathering in certain areas of the caves, but I don't have any concrete evidence yet." Pikachu's voice caused the explorers to turn away from the cloud to face him.

"Either way, it can't be good news, can it?" Axew chimed in, looking at the mountain in curiosity. Pikachu hummed in confirmation.

"Is there any way to get rid of it?" Oshawott asked, worried for the residents of the forest. After all, the fog was known to spread over the sky, and even if the cloud over here was tightly packed against the summit, who's to say it won't corrupt the innocent Pokémon within the forest and the villages?

"As far as I know, no," Pikachu admitted as he shook his head. "If it lies at the core of the cloud, then I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Whatever it is, it must be powerful, since it's able to get into the minds of Pokémon.

"Aside from that, isn't there something that you needed to get to?" The Electric-type's tone was a bit hasty as he looked at the explorers questioningly. Oshawott and Tepig had identical looks of confusion that were quickly replaced with realization.

"Oh man, we're really going to be late!" Oshawott exclaimed as he grabbed the Treasure Bag and slung it around his shoulder. The two ran ahead, shouting, "Thanks for helping us!" as they went into the forest.

Once the two were long gone, Axew turned to his friend, confusion evident on his face. "Pikachu, what was that about?"

The Electric Mouse's ears twitched. "Something's coming."

"It isn't a dark Pokémon, is it?" The Dragon-type asked with slight worry.

"Not quite…" Without another word, Pikachu turned his head towards the northern section of the forest. Axew followed suit, and he could see a small dot diving into the forest from the sky at an alarming speed. It disappeared into the trees, and a faint crashing noise could be heard from where the duo stood. They froze, staying silent for a moment before Axew retreated into the forest and returned with berries in his arms.

"I hope they're nice!" Axew grinned as he and Pikachu made their way over to the crash site.


End file.
